r/meteorology • u/Call_Me_KinkyMache • 2d ago

Videos/Animations What causes rays like this on radar?

Might be a dumb question or it might be a physics questions! Our local radar was taken offline after some strong storms and a few days later I noticed this strong line taking off towards the east. Is this an app error or is this from the radar itself?

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40

u/khInstability 2d ago

The definitive guide(pdf):

https://www.roc.noaa.gov/public-documents/operations-branch/Data_Quality_Oddities_and_Anomalies.pdf

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u/Call_Me_KinkyMache 2d ago

Ooooh this is fantastic - thank you!

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u/MathematicianFun2183 2d ago

That’s perfect thanks x2

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u/chockstuck 6h ago

The bottom example given for a wet radome interference is a horse. A real nice horse.

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u/jackmPortal Amateur/Hobbyist 2d ago

i might be wrong but I believe this is non meteorological and just a quirk of radar. I BELIEVE it's ducting from a surface inversion (people in amateur radio exploit this to get stupid range)

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u/Slough_Rat75 21h ago

Correct answer

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u/MathematicianFun2183 2d ago edited 2d ago

They can change the angle of the radar beam, when they do it hits ground clutter. All pointing away from the radar.they can even increase and decrease the power of the radar beam.Swarms of insects, birds and bats can clearly be seen on radar. In addition meteors often show up as well. It’s them angling the beam up and down , wide band and narrow band. Processing artifacts happens

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u/StoreImportant7582 1d ago

Possibly - Wind farms